Land mafia, allegedly behind land records forgery, arrested from Bareilly
Wednesday, 02 AUGUST 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
In latest news from Dehradun, the Kotwali police station, in its first arrest in connection with the manipulation of the land records kept in the revenue archives to help land encroachment, nabbed an alleged land mafia Makkhan Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly. Lauding the arrest as a major achievement in the case that triggered consternation across the State, the Kotwali police officials said that the arrested accused had played a major role not just in tampering with the land records kept in the revenue records room but in encroaching lands in Rainapur worth crores of rupees. Police further said that the accused originally hails from Pilibhit and in collusion with others, he attempted to occupy properties worth crores illegally through land records forgery.
Notably, as the case of missing land records from the revenue department record room came to the fore, a file related to ceiling land spread over 70 bighas in Rainapur Grant area in Rishikesh was found missing with some other files. Police registered a case in this matter on the basis of the complaint filed by an employee of the revenue records room and seized some land records for investigation. It was found in course of police investigation that Makkhan Singh and his associates had old land sale deeds’ records being removed and replaced by new, fabricated records with land grab intention. Police found that the forged records show Makkhan Singh as the owner of the disputed land which he was shown to have purchased from one Premlal.
The accused Makkhan Singh was produced in the court and from there he was sent to jail. Speaking of this matter, the SP City Sarita Dobhal said that with the prime accused being put behind the bars, police would grill him and arrest his associates soon. However, some police officials, privy to the investigation, informed that Makkhan Singh, in his 70s, refused to reply while being grilled, making one excuse or the other.
